Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
John donne use of conceits in his poetry
Conceits and images of john donne poetry
The flea analysis john donne
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: John donne use of conceits in his poetry
The Flea: Crushed In “The Flea”, Donne attempts to seduce a woman by using a metaphor that suggests that since a flea bit them both, they might as well sleep together. Donne seems to believe that his seduction is a harmless attempt to sleep with this woman, but it is more than that. Donne’s attempt to sleep with this woman is far more than harmless as well as very consistent, he took many steps to seduce her, but his argument is simply not convincing. Although he finds his words so light and innocent, they appear to be full of lies and deceiving. Donne’s argument is full of steps to seduce this woman. At first, he says, “Me it sucked first, and now sucks thee, and in this flea, or two bloods mingled be.” By this, he meant that their bodily fluids have already met together, so there is no harm in sleeping together. He continued to say, “Where we almost, nay more than married are.” He suggests that since their blood is already mixed, that they essentially have nothing to lose. Another step towards his attempt to convince her to sleep with him is when he says, “Let not that self-murder added be, and sacrilege, three sins in …show more content…
The moment that he opens up his mouth, nonsense seems to come out. “Mark but this flea, and mark in this, how little that which thou deniest me,” he states. This sentence is the sentence that he builds his argument on. It seems a little belittling the woman to question why she is denying him in the first place, as if she does not have a right to say no to him with no reason at all. As previously stated, he then attempts to build upon this argument with an explanation. He says, “Me it sucked first, and now sucks thee, and in this flea our two bloods mingled be.” As if this is something that is really going to convince her to have sex with me, he says it anyway, and he is truly convinced that it is
According to feminist Victoria L. Bromley, if feminism is about combating all forms of inequalities, including oppression, towards all social groups, then feminists must study how masculinity oppresses both men and women. Patriarchy, men’s powers and dominance, hegemonic masculinity, the idea that the “dominant group” in society is most powerful, and hyper masculinity, the exaggeration of the emphasis on male characteristics, all lead to oppression through multiple forms: privileges and unearned privileges, hierarchies of power and exclusion. Bromley argues that the feminist approach towards eliminating oppression, is to use an intersectional analysis, a theoretical tool used for understanding how multiple identities are connected and how systems
In the poem “The Flea” by John Donne, the speaker uses clever sexual innuendo and metaphors in an attempt to manipulate a certain girl into losing her virginity to him. The poem begins with the speaker explaining that a flea has bit both him and her, and now both of their blood mixes inside it. He continues to try and lay the girl by saying that the flea has accomplished the same thing without “wooing” her.
John Donne's, "The Flea," is a persuasive poem in which the speaker is attempting to establish a sexual union with his significant other. However, based on the woman's rejection, the speaker twists his argument, making that which he requests seem insignificant. John Donne brings out and shapes this meaning through his collaborative use of conceit, rhythm, and rhyme scheme. In the beginning, Donne uses the flea as a conceit, to represent a sexual union with his significant other. For instance, in the first stanza a flea bites the speaker and woman. He responds to this incident by saying, "And in this flea our bloods mingled be."
In order to better understand Philip's critique of Donne within the lines of her poetry, a reading
The speaker in Donne's poetry is a theatrical character, constantly in different situations, and using different roles to suit the action. He can take on the role of the womanizer, as in "The Indifferent," or the faithful lover from "Lover's Infiniteness," but the speaker in each of these poems is always John Donne himself. Each poem contains a strong sense of Donne's own self-interest. According to Professor J. Crofts, Donne:
John Donne?s poem connects flesh and spirit, worldly and religious ideas in a fascinating way between seemingly unrelated topics. He compares sexual intercourse to a bite of a flea and says that now their blood has mixed inside the flea. He also compares the inside of the tiny flea to the entire world, including the couple.
During the 17th century, certain poets wrote poems with the specific purpose of persuading a woman to have sexual intercourse with them. Three of these seduction poems utilize several strategies to do this: Andrew Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress,” and Donne’s “A Valediction: Forbidden Mourning” and “The Flea.” Some of the reasoning used by both poets is similar to the reasoning used today by men to convince women to have sexual intercourse with them. These gimmicks vary from poem to poem but coincide with modern day rationalization. The tactics used in 17th century seduction poems are relevant and similar to the seduction tactics used in the 21st century.
The process of choosing a partner began altering at the beginning of the 17th century. Whilst the upper aristocratic class still chose the marriage partners for their children, the rest of society permitted their children to choose their future mates. Additionally, the motive of choosing a spouse moved from the “consolidation of wealth, property, and political power” to being based on romantic love and physical attraction. The narrator in The Flea adopts the relationship based on his independent choice and physical attraction to the woman. He argues the woman should “yield’st to” his sexual advances, despite their parent’s antipathy. Similar to the way their bloods “mingled” inside the flea, he wants them to physically mingle. The fact he asks her to have sex rather than wed her suggests his motivation is immediate physical pleasure rather than the outmoded joining of economic power; marriage entails commitment as opposed to sex. Since Donne is abiding by the new attitude towards choosing a spouse, he must, as Marx predicted, be a product of his social
One of Donne's famous poetic devices is diction. Again in line one and ten appear "Mark" and "Oh stay." These words are denotations of strong causative voice in order to obtain mistress' attention. In addition to diction, another outstanding part is his rhetoric skill. For example, "Me it sucked first, and now sucks thee," (line 3). His using different ...
This poem showed the pure genius of John Donne. It is intriguing to look at, especially for the religious imagery and form. His analogy of killing a flea and having sex, allow him to simplify his argument, which makes this a work of genius. His word choice, form, and rhythm all coincided with his major theme. I cannot help but to find this poem hilarious, flirtatious, and less serious than his other works because love, lust, marriage, and conceiving children is nowhere in comparison to a flea or killing one. I think Donne knew this, but through his wit he managed to make the correlation.
John Donne’s early works viewed women as tools for sexual pleasure, as seen in The Flea and The Sunne Rising. He was very sexist and objectified women as sexual beings. However, when he meets Anne, his work becomes more concentrated on the spiritual and emotional aspects of love. He views Anne as an equal and considers his experiences with her to be more romantic in a non-sensual way.
With the equal weight of power on both his lover and Donne's part, the reader can begin to see a much more balanced relationship than before – when he was unsure about love.
John Donne, an English poet and clergyman, was one of the greatest metaphysical poets. His poetry was marked by conceits and lush imagery. The Flea is an excellent example of how he was able to establish a parallel between two very different things. In this poem, the speaker tries to seduce a young woman by comparing the consequences of their lovemaking with those of an insignificant fleabite. He uses the flea as an argument to illustrate that the physical relationship he desires is not in itself a significant event, because a similar union has already taken place within the flea. However, if we look beneath the surface level of the poem, Donne uses the presence of the flea as a comparison to the presence of a baby, thus making the sub textual plot about aborting the baby.
The speaker then boastfully asserts his power over the sun's rays, stating that "he could eclipse and cloud them with a wink, but that he would not lose her sight so long." This obviously undermines his argument because if it were not for those same beams of light, he would not see his love. Donne surely was aware of the ridiculous nature of this assertion; he appears to be attempting to accentuate the flaws in his argument against the sun, perhaps to emphasize the foolishness of a person in love. He continues this emphasis with his claim that all the riches and nobility the sun has seen "all here in one bed lie."
Despite the speaker’s best attempt at convincing the woman to have sexual relations with him through his metaphor of the flea, he would appear to be unsuccessful at the end of the poem. His far-fetched and cynical approach belittles both the woman’s virginity and sexual relations outside of marriage in general, and only highlight his lust for her. However, the poem’s metaphysical characteristics which include the primary use of a conceit through the flea, hyperbole, ironic wit to balance the plot between a serious and humorous nature, and an argumentative structure, allow Donne to create a satirical narrative to address the subject of sexual relations outside of marriage.